Hearts for the Arts or Arts for the Heart?

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In addition to being a good thing for kids and the community, attending Hearts for the Arts fundraiser will help you live longer.

Here’s how:

Listening to your favorite music may be good for your cardiovascular system. Researchers have shown emotions aroused by joyful music have a healthy effect on blood vessel function.

Music can help you feel good and bring a sense of joy, causing tissue in the inner lining of blood vessels to dilate (or expand) in order to increase blood flow. This healthy response matches what we’ve known for a long time, that positive emotions, such as laughter, are good for vascular health.

There’s way more to it, along with lots of medical terms and words that boggle the mind. For our purposes, we will keep it simple and go along with the thought that listening to joyful music could help your heart.

And who can’t use a little more help there?

Arts For the Schools will bring a dose of joyful music by Joe Craven, this time as a trio with John R. Burr and Kendrick Freeman and special guest Hattie Craven at the annual Hearts for the Arts event at the end of this month.

The Hearts for Arts fundraiser started about eight years ago with an event at the West Shore Café on Valentine’s Day, when the name Hearts for the Arts was coined.

Arts For the Schools relies on community support to offer professional art instruction and performing art experiences to local children. In many cases, Arts For the Schools is the only professional art experience area youth will encounter in their grammar school education.

The positive development that comes from exposure to world-class art instruction and artistic performances includes leadership, creative thinking, problem solving, community participation, motivation and better school attendance.

Musical performances such as Joe Craven open a whole new world to local kids, some seeing and holding an instrument for the first time.

The Hearts for Arts event this year will be on Friday, March 28 at the Community Arts Center in Truckee.

Doors will open at 6 p.m. for mingling, the show starts at 7 p.m.

This “good for your heart” evening will have several benefits. The music will have a healthy effect on your heart, and you will get the good feeling of helping AFtS continue to provide art education to children and outstanding performances for the community.

Take your family and friends to enjoy an evening of the Joe Craven Trio. When Joe Craven appeared at the Community Art Center last year on Feb. 1, the performance was sold out, so get your tickets soon.

Ticket prices are $25 for all, and include appetizers and a drink. For more information on Arts For the Schools, to purchase tickets or make a donation visit www.artsfortheschools.org.

Paula Rachuy is a member of the Arts For the Schools Board of Trustees.